The plague has hit Europe hard and the death toll rises daily. Locked in his shop to try and evade infection a wigmaker writes in his diary as he watches his city come to a stop. He tries what he can to clean the air in his home but from what he sees there is no spiritual reason for the plague, no punishment from God as some see it but instead a scientific or natural disease that is carried in the air from the skin and from breath. He watches as a young girl across the street starts to fall ill to the plague.
Lacking a firm narrative, this film instead uses the setting of a city affected by the plague to good effect to produce a rather stiff but haunting film. One man sits alone, looking after himself in his home, coldly writing about those outside his walls dying and pontificating on the possible reasons and causes, however he is gradually forced to confront the emotional impact of the deaths as a young girl starts to slip towards certain death. By doing this it shows us the plague but also the humanity of the situation and why we can't just look after number one. It is not totally convincing in how it does this and I didn't totally buy the actions of the man at the end (perhaps he had accepted the inevitable and decided to make it of his own timing) but the point is there.
Branagh is excellent with his voice; his character is such a pale and inexpressive man that it all had to be in the voce and he moves from being cold to understanding very well. The supporting voices are not quite as good but this doesn't matter than much. The animation is impressive with such detail and such good use of the stop-motion technique. Overall an interesting short film. A little bit stiff perhaps but still worth seeing for several reasons.
Lacking a firm narrative, this film instead uses the setting of a city affected by the plague to good effect to produce a rather stiff but haunting film. One man sits alone, looking after himself in his home, coldly writing about those outside his walls dying and pontificating on the possible reasons and causes, however he is gradually forced to confront the emotional impact of the deaths as a young girl starts to slip towards certain death. By doing this it shows us the plague but also the humanity of the situation and why we can't just look after number one. It is not totally convincing in how it does this and I didn't totally buy the actions of the man at the end (perhaps he had accepted the inevitable and decided to make it of his own timing) but the point is there.
Branagh is excellent with his voice; his character is such a pale and inexpressive man that it all had to be in the voce and he moves from being cold to understanding very well. The supporting voices are not quite as good but this doesn't matter than much. The animation is impressive with such detail and such good use of the stop-motion technique. Overall an interesting short film. A little bit stiff perhaps but still worth seeing for several reasons.